Fair Work feeds the rat wheel economy

Wednesday 3 June 2026

Almost three million workers will get pay rises of 4.75 per cent after the annual wage review, but those at the very bottom will get an even higher increase of 6 per cent.

The Fair Work Commission on Tuesday ruled that the minimum wage of $24.95 an hour should increase to $26.44 or from $948 a week to $1004 for 100,000 of the lowest-paid employees from July 1.

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About the author

David Llewellyn-Smith is Chief Strategist at the MB Fund and MB Super. David is the founding publisher and editor of MacroBusiness and was the founding publisher and global economy editor of The Diplomat, the Asia Pacific’s leading geo-politics and economics portal. He is also a former gold trader and economic commentator at The Sydney Morning Herald, The Age, the ABC and Business Spectator. He is the co-author of The Great Crash of 2008 with Ross Garnaut and was the editor of the second Garnaut Climate Change Review.